Chapter 85: The Pinnacle Battle (Part 2)

“Forgotten? You say I’ve forgotten?”

The muscles on Sheffield’s face twitched as he stared intently at Su Mu Zhe.
“How could I… possibly forget.”
“I watched them fall, one by one, dying at the hands of the Bloodkin… and you say I’ve forgotten?”

Those people…

No matter how insignificant they might seem, they were once his teammates and comrades who had gone through life and death with him.

He could not forget every day and night in the Phantom Squad, nor could he forget the face and voice of each of those people.
Even after the Far Shore War ended, these memories became a nightmarish torment that haunted him.

But what could he have done?
At that time, he was merely an S-rank Exterminator.
Facing the powerful Bloodkin legions, who could he have saved?

This was even the root of his fear of his own weakness.

And now his captain was saying he had forgotten all of this?

Were his actions at this very moment not precisely for the sake of completely eradicating the Bloodkin in the future!?

Sacrifice was necessary, unavoidable.

Just like the Phantom Squad back then, someone had to pay the necessary price.

“Sheffield, we have ultimately walked different paths.”
Su Mu Zhe took a step, treading on the rubble of the ruins as he looked at the young man before him.

“Yes, you’re right.”
“Heh, hehe… hahahahaha!”
Sheffield covered his face with one hand and laughed loudly.
“From the very beginning, you should have known, right, Su Mu Zhe?”

“Yes.”
“I understand your hatred, and I was angry alongside you.”

“Then you should understand me! Instead of spouting all this nonsense!” Sheffield suddenly roared.

But after shouting this, he then laughed self-deprecatingly, as if he didn’t even know what he was saying.

‘How ridiculous…’

That’s right, in this world, the only one who truly understood him was Su Mu Zhe, who had once listened to his past as his closest friend.

Others knew nothing of his past experiences, and he had never mentioned them to anyone.

Yet, the only person who knew why he did what he did… they had ultimately gone their separate ways.

Perhaps during their days at the academy, they might have foreseen this, but neither would have imagined that a day like this would come, where the two of them would face each other in such a manner.

One, after dying, was reborn as a Bloodkin and became the guardian of a human city.

The other became an invader who would stop at nothing to destroy a human city.

“Yes, I understand you as well,” Su Mu Zhe said, his face still calm as he continued walking forward, sword in hand.

However, this method of wanton slaughter for the sake of revenge, bringing more disaster to the world, was something he could not accept.

From the very beginning, he knew Sheffield possessed an extremely strong obsession.
It was no longer just a matter of hatred; compared to upholding the duty of protection as part of the Exterminator army, he was more willing to do anything for his obsession.

He could not escape that obsession, or perhaps, it had already become a part of his very being.

Therefore, even at the end of the Far Shore War, when Sheffield appeared behind him, plunged a sword into his body, and took his power through some method, Su Mu Zhe was not overly shocked.

He was not surprised by Sheffield’s final betrayal.

Perhaps they were destined to stand on opposite sides one day, to go from best friends to enemies on the battlefield.

But he had hoped that, after this power was taken, it would be used for protection.

It was precisely because they understood each other so well that at this moment, Phantom and Sheffield needed no more words.
A single glance was enough for both to know that this confrontation was inevitable.

After all, the moment Sheffield betrayed humanity, there was no turning back.

“Let’s put an end to this, Sheffield.”

Su Mu Zhe stopped walking.

Behind him was the entire city of Tantan.

“Heh… Is that so? Suits me just fine, Phantom,” Sheffield responded in kind.

“But you’ve grown more reckless than before.”
“You should know my strength now.”
“For you to challenge me now, having lost your power, is nothing but a fool’s errand.”
“The only end result is that you will be killed by me.”

“No, quite the opposite.”

Su Mu Zhe replied, “You’re right, I can feel that you are indeed very strong now.”
“Therefore, I will not engage in a prolonged fight with you.”
“I will use only one strike, and with that one strike, I will utterly defeat you.”

Sheffield didn’t seem to understand the meaning of these words.

“That doesn’t sound very humorous.”
“It seems you were saved by some noble vampire and became their fledgling.”
“But that kind of pathetic power is no match for me at all.”

“No, you’re wrong.”
“I will use my own power to defeat you.”

There was not a hint of jest in Su Mu Zhe’s tone, which made Sheffield’s expression immediately turn serious.

What exactly did he intend to do to instantly kill an SS-rank Exterminator with a single blow?

In Sheffield’s mind, there was no solution to this puzzle.

But, in the next moment, golden petals suddenly swirled up around Su Mu Zhe.

That extermination power, which should have been depleted, began to burn behind him once more—no longer the azure aura of the past, but a gilded breath as brilliant as the morning sun, as glorious as a divine oracle.

Sheffield’s pupils reflected this light; it was the power of the Sacred Breath he had been seeking.

Vast and profound, possessing an oppressive force that lorded over all creation, it was superior to any other extermination aura.
This was an innate power, surpassing ordinary extermination energy, existing independently of all other power systems.

Even if stripped of everything else, this talent remained hidden deep within his blood, never to be extinguished.

A millennium ago, the Bloodkin Progenitor Dracula was utterly destroyed by this very golden aura.

‘Wait! If he gathers so much golden aura, at this rate, he will definitely—’

If he concentrated all of the [Sacred Forbidden] into a single point in pursuit of the pinnacle of power, there was no doubt that Su Mu Zhe was practically burning his own life to deliver this strike.

He might even directly lose the power of the Sacred Forbidden after his body could no longer bear it!

“Phantom, must you risk everything to fight me to the death!?”

Even if Su Mu Zhe was ultimately defeated by him, Sheffield might have still considered sparing him out of respect for their old friendship.

But with this kind of resolve, there was no room for leeway.

“Good, very good!”
“This is so like you, Phantom.”
“This is precisely why I admire you so much!”

“In that case, I too shall offer my all!”

Sheffield took a deep breath.
He couldn’t lose everything either.
He had worked so hard to obtain this much power, and he was just one step away from becoming even stronger.

He absolutely could not stop here.
He also had a long-cherished wish he had to fulfill.

Then let their strength do the talking.
Let’s see which of them could stand to the very end to carry out their own will.

“Don’t you dare underestimate me!”
“Do you think I’m still the weakling I once was—!?”

He was no longer the same as he was before!

Facing the former Chief Exterminator, he didn’t need to hold back any of his strength.
He directly unleashed his full power.

Sheffield let out a heaven-shaking roar, and a deep blue energy storm suddenly erupted around him!
The rubble and steel rebar from the ruins were instantly swept up, forming a destructive vortex around him.

The clothes on his back tore to shreds.

A pair of giant wings formed from a raging tornado unfurled with a boom—they were not wings of feather or flesh, but wings of calamity, formed purely from high-speed rotating hurricanes and extermination energy.

Wherever the hurricane passed, the ground was peeled up layer by layer, and rubble scattered like a torrential downpour.
Every flap of those wings brought an ear-splitting roar, as if two wind dragons were awakening and roaring behind him.

“So this is an SS-rank Exterminator…”

Even Evran, watching from a distance, had to raise her hand to block the fierce winds that threatened to send her flying.
She couldn’t help but wonder, if she were this Exterminator’s opponent right now…

Her odds of winning probably wouldn’t exceed thirty percent.

“Captain, let me show you.”

“What I am now, and what a storm-like extermination power truly is!”
He stood at the center of the storm, his eyes erupting with an almost crazed blue light.
The tornado wings behind him continued to expand, nearly obscuring half the sky.

At this moment, he was no longer just an Exterminator.

He had transformed into a god of destruction, wielding a natural disaster.